HARTFORD – House Republican Leader Themis Klarides today praised the passage in the House of a bill that mandates that public school students are educated on issues of the Holocaust and other genocides in history.

HARTFORD – Yesterday, the House unanimously passed legislation, introduced by House Republican Leader Themis Klarides and State Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria, which will provide consumers with better information regarding the safety of sports helmets.

The Klarides sisters brought this legislation forward after, Jason Klein of Force3 Pro Gear, a local Derby business, expressed his frustration that his company and others were unable to share their helmet safety test results with the public.

According to Klein, sports safety helmets are tested by the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment. The NOCSAE helmet standard uses a pass/fail threshold to determine whether or not a helmet meets the standard performance criteria. The NOCSAE pass/fail threshold is 1200 Severity Index units or SI. A helmet must test below 1200 SI in all 16 designated and random impact locations, including impacts at a helmet in ambient, high and low temperatures.

Klein said in testimony, “There’s been no place for an athlete or parent seeking helmet safety information to turn and no way for them to compare results with other helmets currently on the market.”

Rep. Klarides and Klarides-Ditria said in a joint statement, “Helmet manufacturers should be able to tell the public that their protective equipment is tested and safe. We want to thank Jason for bringing this forward. This legislation will keep athletes of all ages safe.”

HARTFORD – House Republican Leader Themis Klarides and State Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria applauded the bipartisan passage of House Bill 5407, An Act Establishing a Task Force to Promote Efficiencies in the Filing of Habeas Corpus Matters, on Tuesday.

The Klarides sisters introduced H.B. 5407, after seeing the problem first hand. The family of Joyce Stochmal, a young woman from Seymour who was murdered in 1984, did not receive notice from the Department of Criminal Justice that the defendant in their case had a viable habeas claim until very late in the process. In fact, the defendant in the case was released from prison last March through a sentence modification.

“It’s time for a major overhaul of the habeas corpus application system in Connecticut,” said Rep. Klarides. “Inmates are filing seemingly endless habeas corpus applications at the cost of taxpayers and victims. The Stochmal family and other families are not being well served by Connecticut’s criminal justice system. We need to improve the habeas corpus system and passing this bill will be the first step in that direction.”